Many people enjoy sunbathing, either for the general relaxation of the body provided by the warmth of the sun or for the pleasure derived from obtaining an even tan of the skin. For such people, sunbathing is a practice requiring numerous aids and appliances to ensure obtaining maximum benefit from the time spent in the sun. Many such aids have been manufactured including such devices as reflectors to direct the sun's rays to the body, special shields to protect certain areas of the body, headrests, mattresses, etc. However, to this inventor's knowledge, there is no device available specifically designed for supporting and maintaining the feet and legs in the proper orientation for obtaining an even tan of the legs when the body is in a reclining position.
The problem arises from the natural tendency when the body is in a reclined, relaxed position for the exposed portions of the feet and legs to turn outward. This outward turning prevents even tanning on the outer side areas of the legs and feet and, additionally, this normal body position is generally uncomfortable.
Toward this end, earlier attempts to solve this problem resulted in a device having a base with spaced end walls of such a height as to engage the outer edges of the feet up near the toes. The present invention constitutes an improvement to the earlier attempt disclosed in my co-pending application, Ser. No. 581,108 filed May 27, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,030 issued September 21, 1976. Further experimentation on the device disclosed therein revealed that by creating a cooperating relationship between the design of the upper surface of the base member and the opposing foot-supporting vertical abutments, one could obtain a more efficient and more easily fabricated foot support, while decreasing the overall size and weight.